Read the Bible in a Year (21AUG19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, August 21’s Bible reading is Jeremiah 32-34.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, August 22’s Bible reading is Jeremiah 35-37. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

JEREMIAH MOMENT – (21AUG19) “At that time the Lord sent me a message. He said, ‘Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you,’ ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else’ ” (Jeremiah 32:6). Jerusalem was under siege by King Nebuchadnezzar and his army. Some of the people had already been taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Yet, the Lord wanted Jeremiah to buy a field from his cousin as a sign to the people that they would once again return to their homeland to purchase fields, build houses and plant vineyards. Although Jerusalem and Judah were under judgment, God did not want them to be without hope. The Lord’s desire was to restore His people once again to Himself so that they would know that He alone was God and loved them with an everlasting love.

The Lord is still reaching out to the nations of the world. He does not wish for anyone to perish, but many are choosing to reject Him. God sent His Son, Jesus, so that we would not be bound by sin and be condemned to an eternity without Him. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Lord is so gracious and merciful, that He waits and waits and waits to give us all an opportunity to accept Him. He is a God of Righteousness and Justice, but His judgments are rendered to bring about repentance so that we can be saved. The Lord is into Kingdom building and He will do whatever it takes to get our attention. It grieves the Lord that so many people are going to be lost when He will have done all that He could to save us. Therefore, even when the world does not want to hear the gospel, we are to continue to preach, teach, and warn about the great Day of the Lord. Even if we can only reach one soul, that is a soul that Heaven will rejoice over, and one less tear that the Lord will shed. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7).  Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (21AUG19) Why do we as humans have to be so defiant when it comes to the things of the Lord? “But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, forcing them to be slaves once again. ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Since you have not obeyed me by setting your countrymen free, I will set you free to be destroyed by war, disease, and famine. You will be an object of horror to all the nations of the earth’” (Jeremiah 34:16-17). The Children of Israel had been told by God, when they left Egypt, that any fellow Hebrews who sold themselves in slavery to them, were to be released after having served six years. On the seventh year, the slaves were to be free to go wherever they wanted amongst their fellow Hebrews. God did this because they had once been slaves themselves, so just as He had freed them, they too were not to keep a Hebrew slave for life. When reminded of this, the people let their slaves go, but then, they did the same thing that Pharaoh had done to them, and went after their former slaves to enslave them once again. This made the Lord angry. Therefore, the Lord was going to punish them by allowing them to die by the sword, plague, and famine because of their disobedience.

God has given us His Word as the manual for our lives. Within its pages, we have all that we need to know how to live upright before Him. We are also able to pray, seek His face, and ask for guidance when it comes to having direction as to the things that we may be unclear about. Unfortunately, many of us have not followed the ways of the Lord and did things our own way. We rejected the wise counsel of God and followed the desires of our own flesh – only to later regret the choices that we made. The Apostle Paul had this to say, “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it (Roman 7:18-20). Paul lets us know that because of sin, we struggle with doing what is right and our natural man wants to do what is contrary to the Spirit. They are constantly at war with one another, and unless we allow God to take full control, the natural man will win out. Yet, we are not left alone to struggle with the flesh by ourselves. Jesus has already defeated the enemy, and there is nothing that He cannot help us to get victory over. When we humbly submit to Him, He enables us to fight the difficult fight against sin and all that comes with it. We do this by putting on the whole armor of God, so that we will be soldier-ready for when the devil’s temptations come our way. Only then can we win, and in the end, win we shall. Something to ponder….

JEREMIAH MOMENT – (21AUG19) “…Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good , his love endures forever. ‘For I will restore the fortune of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 33:11b). The Lord had made the promise to restore Judah and Jerusalem. The people were going to return to their homeland, and it would once again be prosperous for them to live. They were to give praises to the Lord for what He was going to do even though they did not see its manifestation at the time. The Lord’s Word was true, and never would it be returned to Him void.

Many times, as Christians, we do not begin to praise God regarding His promises, until after they have manifested. Seeing is believing for many, so the praises do not go up until the blessings come down. But what if we began to praise God in advanced for what He promised to do in our lives? Wouldn’t the Lord love that as an act of faith on our part? Of course, He would. The Bible says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is all about believing even when what you are believing for is not in view. When God has made a promise in our lives, we can be certain that He will fulfill it. Therefore, we can praise Him in advanced of receiving it because it is a guaranteed promise that He will not revoke. The Bible says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Hebrews 11:3). Is it your desire to please the Lord? If so, why not start praising Him now. Do not wait till your blessings manifest, but praise Him because you know they are coming. Something to ponder….